TURN-ONS AND TURN-OFFS IN CURRENT HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES : Excellent Good Fair Poor : VIDEOCASSETTES

“Homer Price Stories.” Children’s Circle. $29.95. Children’s Circle has packaged some of the best cassettes available for youngsters, but this isn’t one of them. It consists of two short films based on Robert McCloskey’s 1940s stories about small-town boy Homer Price, “The Case of the Cosmic Comic” and the better-known “The Doughnuts,” about a doughnut-making machine run amok. Produced 11 and 24 years ago, respectively, the films may once have reflected some of their source’s charming innocence but today are painfully outdated--stodgy pacing, clumsy editing and unconvincing acting. Information: (203) 222-0002. 1/2